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Annex 


5011061 


THE  TAMING  OF  THE  SHREW; 


AN   ADDRESS   IN   THE   RODEF  SHALOM  TEMPLE 
PITTSBURGH,  SUNDAY,   DECEMBER  29,   1912. 


Scripture  Reading:  Esther  Hi. 


Though  hosts  should  encamp  against  me,  my  heart  shall  not 
fear.      (Psalm  xxvii.,   3.) 


Some  years  ago,  while  living"  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  I 
enjoyed  the  privilege  of  a  friendship  which  I  have  always 
cherished,  and  which  has  proved  an  exceedingly  helpful 
factor  in  my  public  life.  My  friend  has  since  achieved 
an  international  reputation,  but  the  older  I  get  the  saner 
I  find  was  his  counsel.  Many  were  the  wise  words  which 
fell  from  his  lips,  but  I  remember  none  more  valuable, 
true  and  wise  than  those  he  spoke  to  me  when,  as  a 
young  man,  I  was  smarting  under  a  bitter  attack  which 
had  been  made  on  me. 


*By  the  Rev.  J.  Leonard  Levy.  Rabbi  of  the  Congregation. 
Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  Loewenthal. 


Attitude  Toward  Critics. 

My  friend  told  me  then  that  it  was  his  rule  in  life 
never  to  make  public  a  reply  to  those  who  attacked  him; 
that,  under  no  circumstances,  could  he  be  drawn  into  a 
public  discussion  of  a  criticism  of  his  motives,  his  pur- 
poses, his  actions,  or  his  life;  that,  as  far  as  his  critics 
were  concerned,  they  were  "dead  to  him,  but  their  critic- 
ism he  submitted  to  two  tests.  Was  it  true?  Was  it 
untrue?  If  untrue,  he  forgot  it  immediately.  If  true, 
he  profited  by  it,  by  taking  it  to  heart,  and  by  so  living 
thereafter  that  no  such  criticism  of  him  should  ever 
again  be  justly  made. 

May  I  say  to  you  this  morning  that  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  live  in  harmony  with  that  wise  counsel.  I  have 
now  been  in  public  life  nearly  twenty-eight  years,  and 
during  that  time  I  have  never  made  an  explanation  in 
print,  nor  written  a  reply  to  the  critics.  I  have  sub- 
mitted all  criticisms  of  my  actions  and  views  to  the  two 
tests  mentioned  above:  Are  they  true,  or  untrue?  If 
untrue,  they  have  had  as  much  influence  upon  me  as  a 
babe's  finger  would  have  upon  the  motion  of  a  planet. 
If  true,  I  have  indulged  in  very  careful  and  painstaking 
self-examination,  in  the  hope  that  such  well-deserved 
criticism  might  never  again  be  valid. 

Old  Year  Reflections. 

I  offer  as  an  excuse  for  this  purely  personal  refer- 
ence the  fact  that,  when  we  hold  this  morning's  meeting, 
the  last  service  of  the  civil  year,  we  are  apt  to  be  intro- 


spective,  our  conscience  is  likely  to  be  a  little  keener 
than  usual,  while  our  memory  is  assuredly  stirred  as  we 
reflect  on  the  passing  year.  Standing  as  we  do  today, 
on  this  last  Sunday  of  the  old  year,  on  the  edge  of  the 
highest  peak  of  observation,  we  may  indulge  in  a  little 
introspection,  we  may  submit  ourselves  to  rigid  self- 
examination,  without  in  any  wise  doing  ourselves  harm. 
I  wish  to  emphasize  this  point  of  view  to  my  congrega- 
tion because  I  believe  that  none  of  us  is  so  upright,  so 
charitable,  so  noble,  so  learned,  but  we  can,  if  we  will, 
improve  ourselves  during  the  years  that  may  lie  before 
us.  * 

Reply  to  Criticism  Sometimes  Necessary. 

While  my  personal  attitude  has  been  such  as  has 
been  described,  I  have,  however,  felt  it  is  sometimes 
necessary  to  say  a  word  for  others,  and  perhaps,  in  the 
most  impersonal  way,  offer  a  word  of  excuse,  explana- 
tion or  defence  in  their  behalf.  I  have  done  this  for 
negroes ;  I  have  spoken  this  way  for  Red  Indians ;  to 
the  limit  of  my  poor  ability,  I  have,  on  occasions,  de- 
fended Roman  Catholics ;  and  I  have,  when  opportunity 
served,  spoken  in  behalf  of  Protestants.  There  is  no 
reason  why  I  should  not  do  the  same  for  those  who  ap- 
parently need  it  most, — my  own  co-religionists,  the  Jews  ; 
for  scarcely  a  day  passes  but  some  attack  is  made  in 
some  quarter  on  this  people  as  a  whole,  an  attack  which 
may  be  perfectly  justified  with  regard  to  individual  Jews, 
but  which  is  never  justified  with  regard  to  all  Jews. 

If  I  were  as  sensitive,  as  too  many  of  my  people  are, 
3 


on  this  question,  I  should  be  making  excuses,  submitting 
explanations,  or  offering  apologies  all  day  long  every 
day  in  the  year.  The  necessity  for  doing  so  does  not, 
however,  seem  to  me  to  occur  so  frequently.  When  there 
are  men  in  various  communities  whose  pleasure  it  is  to 
stir  up  race  hatred,  religious  prejudices, — and  these  men 
are  as  insignificant  as  the  reasons  they  offer, — we  can 
afford  to  answer  them  by  silence.  But  when  these  shrews, 
( for  the  word  shrew  applies  to  man  as  well  as  to  woman, 
as  the  dictionaries  tell  us),  are  men  of  really  prominent 
position,  it  is  well  for  us  to  look  to  our  ways,  to  examine 
tUe  terms  of  the  attack,  to  answer  it  if  we  find  it  neces- 
sary, <>r  to  ignore  it  if  we  find  that  that  method  com- 
niends  itself  to  our  better  judgment. 

Jews  Are  Always  Attacked. 

There  is  no  form  of  attack  upon  the  Jews  as  a  peo- 
ple in  which  some  man,  at  some  time  or  other,  has  not 
indulged.  \Ye  have  been  accused  of  every  crime  in  the 
calendar.  If  people  died  from  the  black  death,  it  was 
said  to  be  the  Jews'  fault.  If  people  lived  to  a  good  old 
age  and  seemed  to  be  unable  to  die,  it  was  also  said  to 
he  the  fault  of  the  Jews.  If  wells  were  poisoned,  be- 
i-ause  pe<  pic  lived  in  filth,  the  Jews  were  blamed.  If 
men  were  spendthrifts  and  lost  their  money,  and  Jews 
pro-pered  because  they  were  economical  and  self-deny- 
ing, again  the  Jews  were  censured.  What  was  deemed 
a  virtue  in  the  critics  was  considered  a  proof  of  the  ab- 
sence of  the  same  virtue  in  the  Jews. 

Pharaoh   invites   the  Jews  to    Egypt    because    his 


prime  minister  had  saved  that  land ;  but  another  Pharaoh, 
"who  knew  not  Joseph,"  requests  the  co-operation  of  his 
nation  to  crush  the  very  people  who  had  come  to  Egypt 
at  the  invitation  of  their  monarch.  Haman  is  offended 
because  one  so-called  stiff-necked  and  obstinate  Jew 
refuses  to  bow  to  him.  In  this  Jew  he  can  see  nothing 
more  than  stiff-neckedness  and  obstinacy.  It  never  oc- 
curred to  Haman  that  a  religious  conviction  might  pos- 
sibly be  an  obstacle  in  Mordecai's  way.  The  petty  rep- 
resentative of  the  king  decides  offhand  that  Mordecai  is 
stiff-necked  and  obstinate,  but  as  it  would  not  be  digni- 
fied in  a  man  of  H,aman's  position  to  wreak  his  revenge 
on  one  Jew,  he  decides  that  all  Jews  must  be  killed. 
Haman  is  execrated;  Ahasuerus  has  been  identified  with 
the  crazy  Artaxerxes,  king  of  Persia,  while  Mordecai 
has  become  the  type  of  the  loyal  and  patriotic  savior  of 
the  nation. 

The  Accusations  False. 

No,  charge  is  too  silly  to  make  against  the  Jews,  nor 
is  any  accusation  too  absurd  to  be  brought  against  them. 
One  accuses  them  of  being  economic  parasites  and  says 
that  they  put  their  hands  in  everybody  else's  pockets ; 
that  they  are  social  vultures  and  ravens,  the  birds  of 
prey  of  society ;  that  they  spin  not ;  that  they  make 
wealth  and  give  no  return  to  society.  It  is  further  as- 
serted that  they  are  rich,  and  the  phrase,  "as  rich  as  a 
Jew,"  is  typical.  Yet  we  know  that  one  non-Jew,  a 
former  resident  of  Pittsburgh,  could  buy  out  all  the  Jews 
in  Pittsburgh,  while  two  or  three  former  Pittsburghers 
and  their  friend,  the  leading  captain  of  industry,  easily 


possess  more  wealth  than  all  the  Jews  in  America  to- 
gether. One  should  rarely  estimate  a  Jew's  wealth  by 
appearances.  One  must  never  determine  a  Jew's  wealth 
by  the  amount  claimed  for  it;  it,  very  often,  bears  in- 
vestigation. 

As  Rich  as  a  Jew. 

The  phrase,  "as  rich  as  a  Jew"  is  as  false  as  every- 
thing else  that  has  been  said  concerning  the  Jews  as  a 
whole.  The  Jews  are  not  parasites,  for  the  vast  propor- 
tion of  the  Tews  throughout  the  world  are  toilers;  they 
are  active  producers.  There  are  parasites  among  the 
Jews ;  there  are  usurers  and  money-lenders,  and  loan 
sharks,  and  Shylocks,  among  the  Jews;  but  it  is  an  out- 
rageous falsehood  to  say  that  all  Jews  are  of  that  char- 
acter, and  my  position  is  that  he  lies  who  makes  any 
general  adverse  charge  against  all  Jews.  The  vast  ma- 
jority of  Jews  work  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow  and  are 
productive  laborers.  They  are  a  great  factor  in  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  Thank  God,  I  have  not, 
thus  far,  heard  of  any  Jew  being  tried  in  Los  Angeles  or 
Indianapolis  as  a  murderer,  or  for  having  planned  the 
destruction  of  life  and  property  as  a -means  of  advancing 
•heir  cause. 

Socially  Graceless. 

It  is  said  of  the  Jews  that  they  have  no  social  graces 
and  are,  therefore,  undesirable  in  social  life.  I  admit  it 
with  regard  to  some  Jews,  as  every  fair-minded  person 
would  have  to  admit  it  of  some  who  are  not  Jews;  but  I 
say  again  that  he  lies  who  urges  this  against  all  Jews, 


just  as  it  would  be  false  to  say  that  all  non-Jews  have 
no  social  graces.  I  was  born  in  England,  and  I  knew 
something  of  English  culture  before  I  came  to  live  in 
America.  Unpleasant,  indeed,  were  my  early  impres- 
sions of  the  ostentatiousness,  the  coarseness,  the  lack  of 
culture  that  met  me  on  every  side  in  my  journey  from 
New  York  to  California.  But  it  would  be  utterly  false 
were  I  to  say  that  the  American  people  are  coarse,  os- 
tentatious and  uncultured  because  I  know  some  of  my 
fellow  Americans  who  are  so.  Generalities  of  such  a 
kind  are  rarely  fair  and  are  uttered,  as  a  rule,  by  the 
enemy  of  mankind,  never  by  its  friends. 

God-killers. 

It  is  said  of  the  Jews  that  they  killed  him  called  the 
Christ  and  that  we  cannot  expect  his  followers  to  asso- 
ciate with  a  people  who  have  been  God-murderers.  On 
the  very  contrary,  this  should  make  us  attractive  to  the 
world.  I  would  pay  a  high  price  to  see  a  man  who  could 
kill  God.  He  would  be  worth  looking  at,  for  he,  who 
had  the  ability  to  kill  God,  would  be  a  unique  creature. 
Surely  those  who  criticize  us  for  having  done  the  ab- 
solutely impossible  should  pass  as  ignoramuses ;  they 
know  not  what  they  say. 

You're  Another! 

Every  attack  made  upon  the  Jew  as  a  whole  can  be 
met  by  simply  quoting  two  Latin  words,  Tu  quoque, 
"You're  another!"  Every  accusation  brought  against 
the  Jewish  people  as  a  whole  can  with  equal  propriety 


be  brought  against  every  other  people  in  the  world.  Let 
me  illustrate !  Some  of  our  foes  say  that  we  are  mater- 
ialistic and  sensual.  Very  good !  I  admit  that  such  Jews 
can  easily  be  found ;  but  it  is  utterly  false  to  make  this 
contention  against  all  Jews.  And  are  there  no  mater- 
ialistic and  sensual  non-Jews?  Go  to  New  York  next 
Tuesday  night ;  go  to  Chicago  on  New  Year's  Eve ;  go  to 
the  Fort  Pitt  Hotel  or  the  Schenley  Hotel  next  Tuesday 
night,  and  you  will,  probably,  find  some  Jews  in  these 
places;  but  not  all  persons  there  will  be  Jews.  The  five 
thousand  seats  reserved  in  the  largest  hotel  in  New  York 
at  five  dollars  each  have  not  all  been  set  aside  for  Jews. 
No,  indeed ;  it  matters  not  what  accusation  is  made 
against  the  Jewish  people  as  a  whole,  the  same  accusa- 
tion can  the  Jew  bring  against  those  who  malign  him. 
Hut  it  is  ever  an  ill-mending  of  the  case  to  say,  "You're 
another!"  We  never  prove  anything  by  it. 

The  Latest  Accusation. 

f  )n  the  other  hand  if  an  adverse  criticism  of  the  Jews 
as  a  whole  is  made  by  one  whose  general  bearing  is 
friendly  to  us.  it  is  worth  while  investigating.  Such  a 
critic-ism  was  recently  offered  in  England  and  was  ex- 
pressed by  m>  less  a  man  than  Dr.  Stanley  Coit,  a  co- 
worker  of  Professor  Felix  Adler,  a  man  who  holds  a  like 
position  in  England  as  does  Dr.  Felix  Adler  in  America, 
at  the  head  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Society.  Dr.  Coit  is 
a  friend  of  the  Jews,  and  says  that  he  admires  the  Jews 
very  much.  l»y  the  way,  all  shrews  say  that.  But  he 
charges  the  Jew  with  an  awful  crime  ( ?) — and  it  is  our 
duty  to  investigate. 


He  says,  in  an  interview  published  in  the  "Jewish 
Chronicle,"  of  London,  that  the  Jews  are  a  menace  to 
Western  civilization  because  they  are  "religious  monopo- 
lists, imposing  their  'arrogant'  religious  leadership  upon 
other  nations  and  thereby  robbing  them  of  their  spirit- 
ual initiative  and  insight."  Poor  Jews !  "Religious 
monopolists !"  "Religious  leadership !"  How  strange 
such  words  appear  when  applied  to  those  who,  for  fifteen 
centuries,  have  been  like  sheep  led  to  the  slaughter,  and 
like  a  lamb  that  is  dumb  before  its  shearers !  True  they 
have  not  surrendered  or  died ;  but  that  should  be  ac- 
counted a  virtue,  not  a  vice.  True  they  have,  whenever 
able,  refused  to  bend  the  knee  to  the  Haman  of  social 
force ;  but  that  is  their  glory,  not  their  shame.  True 
they  have  not  flattered  their  oppressors  by  yielding  to 
ecclesiastical  domination ;  but,  for  that  they  should  be 
approved,  not  censured.  But  "monopolists,"  and  "lead- 
ership," these  are  queer  terms  for  a  scholar  to  apply  to 
the  people  who  have  been  called  "the  despised  and  re- 
jected of  men !" 

Greek  Artistic  Monopolists. 

I  wonder  what  Dr.  Coit  would  say  of  the  Greeks? 
The  Greeks  have  produced  certain  types  of  architecture 
and  sculpture  which  have  never  been  surpassed.  Greek 
sculpture  has  never  been  equalled,  not  even  by  Michael 
Angelo  or  Canova.  Have  the  Greeks,  therefore,  robbed 
the  world  of  architectural  and  sculptural  initiative?  Are 
the  modern  Greeks,  the  descendants  of  that  wonderful 
Hellenic  people  which  laid  the  whole  world  under  tribute 
to  it,  to  be  condemned  and  censured  because  their  fore- 


bears  robbed  the  world  of  architectural  and  sculptural 
initiative,  through  being  artistic  monopolists?  I  should 
deem  a  man  who  would  argue  thus  a  fit  applicant  for  a 
padded  cell  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  Because  it  was  given 
to  an  Appeles,  a  Phidias,  a  Praxiteles,  to  paint  and  to 
carve,  because  it  was  given  to  Ictinus  and  Callicrates  to 
design  a  Parthenon,  the  Greeks  were  enabled  to  set 
before  the  whole  world  ideals  unto  which  it  might  aspire ; 
are  they,  therefore,  the  enemies  of  the  artistic  element 
of  the  world?  On  the  very  contrary,  they  are  its  friends. 

Religious  Monopolists. 

As  a  Jewish  teacher  I  cannot  sympathize  with  Dr.. 
O  it's  point  of  view  when  he  calls  my  co-religionists 
"religious  monopolists."  Anyone  who  knows  the  modern 
lc-\vs  realizes  that  the  last  thing  in  the  world,  of  which 
they  seek  a  monopoly,  is  religion.  Their  very  attitude 
toward  religion  as  a  class, — I  must  not  generalize,  I 
mu>t  a  Id  a  saving  phrase, — with  notable  and  praise- 
worthy exceptions,  is  the  best  proof  that  they  are  least 
interested  in  a  monopoly  of  religion.  But  he  further 
argues  that  we  regard  ourselves  as  the  supreme  spiritual 
force  among  men,  and  this  is  a  menace.  Peace!  Peace! 
The  Jew  may  teach  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  Israel; 
but  who  admits  it?  After  all,  our  critic  raises  a  tempest 
in  a  teacup,  and  we  would  not  be  justified  in  noticing  it 
were  it  not  a  fact  thatt  he  most  dangerous  foe  of  Israel  is 
just  such  a  friend  as  Dr.  Coit,  because  of  his  standing  and 
character.  He  urges,  too,  that  nationality  and  religion 
must  be  identical,  and  that  each  nation  should  have  a 
national  faith  called  by  the  name  of  the  nation.  We 


10 


ought  to  have,  he  holds,  Teutonism  as  the  religion  of 
Germany ;  Gallicism  as  the  religion  of  France ;  Anglo- 
Saxonism  as  the  religion  of  England;  Americanism  as 
the  religion  of  Americaj  and  Romanoffism  as  the  relig- 
ion of  holy,  religious  and  spiritual, — God  save  the  mark, 
—Russia. 

National  Religions. 

This  may  sound  well,  but  it  is  not  very  attractive, 
after  all.  Who  would  wish  to  be  attached  to  a  religion 
called  by  the  name  of  Anglo-Saxonism?  While  there 
is  much  in  England's  history  to  inspire  one ;  while  I,  as 
a  son  of  that  nation,  have  great  regard  for  that  people ; 
while  I  know  of  the  glory  which  England  has  shed  upon 
the  whole  world ;  I  should,  nevertheless,  not  care  to  be- 
long to  the  religion  of  the  nation  which  conducted  the 
Boer  War.  Never  could  I  be  a  member  of  the  Church 
which  condoned  that  infamous  outrage  at  the  end  of 
the  last  century.  If  I  have  read  the  history  of  Germany 
aright,  I  remember  that  the  ancestors  of  the  German 
people  put  brewed  barley,  or  beer  as  we  call  it,  into  the 
skulls  of  their  enemies  and  raised  these  awful  relics  on 
high  as  they  pledged  the  gods  in  Walhalla,  and  then 
drained  the  sacrificial  draught  from  the  skull  of  the 
slain  foe.  Methinks  there  is  something  horrifying  as- 
sociated with  that  mode  of  action,  and  scores  of  others 
no  less  brutal,  which  would  jar  my  religious  feelings, 
and  which  would  prove  no  more  attractive  to  any 
twentieth-century  gentleman. 


11 


Truth  Not  to  Be  Blamed. 

Dr.  Coit  errs  in  calling  Jews  "religious  monopolists." 
They  are  not  to  blame  if  the  principles  of  their  faith  have 
been  surpassed  by  none ;  if,  in  place  of  a  mythology,  they 
have  a  theology ;  if  time,  which  weakens  and  decays  all 
things,  has  only  served  to  set  the  truths  revealed  by 
Israel  in  a  more  beautiful  and  fuller  light.  Nor  has  Israel 
ever  asserted  that  no  other  people  has  a  religion.  On 
the  contrary;  Israel's  authoritative  teachers,  even  during 
th<e  Dark  Ages,  acknowledged  the  services  of  other  re- 
ligions in  preparing  the  world  for  the  conquest  of  truth. 
And  if  ancient  Israel  said,  "The  gods  of  the  nations  are 
idols,"  was  Israel  wrong?  Will  Dr.  Coit  deny  that  the 
gods  of  the  ancient  civilizations  were  idols?  May  it  not 
be  necessary,  even  now,  that  some  body  of  worshippers 
shiiuld  exist  whose  function  should  include  the  duty  of 
protesting  against  error?  Remove  the  protesting  force 
and  what  will  become  of  humanity? 

No  Active  Proselytism  in  Israel. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the  Jews  have  at 
no  time,  attempted  to  force  their  religion  upon  any  one 
else.  There  has  never  been  a  tendency,  throughout  all 
Jewish  history,  to  tolerate  a  "compelle  intrare,"  or  even 
a  suggestion  that  it  was  our  duty  forcibly  to  convert  the 
world  to  our  point  <>f  view.  Some  have  regarded  this  as 
great  selfishness,  as  even  a  wickedness  in  us;  for,  they 
say,  "if  you  are  so  happy  in  your  faith,  why  do  you  not 
go  out  and  convert  the  world;  surely  the  man  who  finds 
happiness  through  a  religion  owes  it  to  others  to  bring 

12 


it  to  them!"  In  reply  to  this  we  have  only  to  say  that 
the  Jew  finds  it  a  by  no  means  easy  task  to  convert  the 
Jewish  people  to  Judaism,  and  he  cannot  help  feeling 
that  it  would  be  Wiell  for  q,thers  to  convert  their  own  be- 
fore they  attempt  to  convert  strangers.  Moreover  the 
Jew  denies  that  it  is  necessary  for  one,  not  born  a  Jew, 
to  become  a  Jew  in  order  to  be  assured  of  divine  favor. 
Furthermore,  the  Jew  teaches  that  good  non-Jews  are 
just  as  dear  to  God  as  good  Jews.  For  religion,  in  the 
last  analysis,  is  a  private  and  personal  matter.  It  is  one's 
personal  attitude  towards  his  Maker,  and  in  that  matter 
no  one  has  a  right  to  force  his  views  upon  others. 

How  then,  can  it  be  truly  said  that  we  have  a  re- 
ligious monopoly?  Our  religion  is  open  to  all  who  wish 
to  take  it.  While  we  do  not  actively  seek  proselytes, 
we  have  never  refused  the  ministrations  of  the  synagogue 
to  all  who  desired  to  enter  it.  A  monopoly  presupposes 
the  inability  of  others  to  control  or  to  possess ;  whereas 
whoever  wishes  Judaism  can  have  it  almost  for  the 
mere  asking.  What,  then,  becomes  of  the  accusation? 

True  or  Untrue? 

The  charges  brought  by  these  shrews  are  either  true 
or  untrue.  Either  Pharaoh  was  right  in  his  diagnosis, 
or  he  was  wrong.  Either  Haman  was  right  or  he  was 
wrong.  Either  Torquemada  was  right,  or  he  was  wrong. 
Whenever  an  attack  is  made  upon  us,  it  seems  to  me 
that,  if  we  are  wise,  we  ought  to  consider  it  from  these 
two  points  of  view:  Is  it  true  or  untrue?  Was  Pharaoh 
justified  in  saying  that  if  the  enemy  were  to  enter  Egypt, 


13 


the  Hebrews  would  not  help  to  drive  the  foe  out  of 
Egypt?  We  know  that  that  was  false.  Was  Haman 
right  in  saying,  that  there  was  a  people  scattered  through 
the  empire  of  Ahasuerus  who  would  not  keep  the  king's 
laws,  and  that  it  was  not  to  the  advantage  of  the  king 
to  permit  that  people  to  remain  in  his  empire?  We  know 
that  that  was  as  false  as  Pharaoh's  statement.  Was 
Thomas  Torquemada  right  when  he  urged  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  to  exile  the  Jews  from  Spain?  or  when  he 
said  to  the  king  after  Abarbanel  had  offered  to  pay  a 
large  ransom  for  his  people,  "Behold  him,"  pointing  to 
a  crucifix,  "whom  Judas  sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver; 
wouldst  thou  sell  him  again?"  To  have  permitted  the 
Jews  to  remain  in  Spain,  we  know,  would  not  have  been 
to  re-sell  their  master,  even  though  the  monk  thought  so. 

Error  Upon  Error. 

When  Dr.  Coit  says  that  we  are  spiritual  monopo- 
lists because  we  have  interfered  with  the  spiritual  ini- 
tiative of  other  people,  he  errs,  because  the  Jews  have 
been  too  feeble  to  force  anyone  to  do  anything  he  did 
not  will  to  do.  When  he  states  that  Roman  Catholics, 
as  well  as  Methodists,  Presbyterians  and  other  Free 
Churches,  are  a  menace  to  Western  Civilization,  as  is 
also  the  orthodox  Jew,  he  is  in  error,  for  Western,  or 
any  other  civilization,  would  be  only  the  more  secure  if 
members  of  these  various  sects  were  loyal  to  their  princi- 
ples. When  he  urges  that  each  nation  should  have  a 
national  religion,  he  again  errs,  for  he  would  set  the 
hands  of  time  backward.  Antiochus  tried  that  two  thou- 
sand years  ago;  Ignatieff  and  Pobiedonostzeff  have  tried 


14 


it  in  Russia,  and  the  Holy  Synod  is  trying  it  today  in 
that  beautiful  land,  with  what  result  you  all  know. 

Sad  Results  Ensue. 

When  it  was  pointed  out  to  Dr.  Coit  that  his  posi- 
tion might  lead  to  brutal  results,  and  that  he  seemed  to 
sympathize  with  such  men  as  Stewart  Chamberlain  and 
Goldwin  Smith,  he  remarked  that  he  advocated  no 
brutality  and  that  he  would  not  permit  the  mob  to  com- 
mit outrages.  Alas !  the  mob  does  not  know  that ;  the 
mob  only  knows  that  there  must  be  something  wrong 
with  the  Jews  because  intellectuals  discuss  them  academi- 
cally and  adversely,  and  the  mob  immediately  pillages 
and  murders.  I  have  been  told  by  men  who  have 
traveled  through  Russia  that  the  Russian  peasant  is 
peace-loving,  kindly  and  sympathetic  to  everyone;  that 
there  is  rarely  any  trouble  in  the  Russian,  villages  be- 
tween the  Russian  Jew  and  the  Russian  moujik;  that, 
as  a  rule  they  get  along  very  well  together.  It  is  only 
when  the  Russian  intellectual  ( ?)  makes  his  proclama- 
tion, only  when  the  higher-ups  pass  the  word  along,  that 
the  mobs  are  urged  forward,  at  the  instigation  of  clericals 
as  a  rule,  and  wreak  a  bloody  vengeance  upon  a  poor, 
weak  and  defenceless  people. 

Jew's  Faults  Are  Human  Failings. 

We  ought,  therefore,  when  a  criticism  is  offered  by 
a  friend,  investigate  it  and  see  if  there  is  any  truth  in  it. 
But  if  shrews  criticize  untruly,  we  ought  to  find  some 
method  of  taming  them  wherever  found.  There  are  Jews 

15 


who  have  faults  many  and  bad ;  they  are,  however,  the 
faults  of  common  humanity.  It  would  be  expecting  too 
much  of  ten  million  people  that  all  of  them  should  be 
perfect  even  if  they  were  reared  in  the  most  helpful  en- 
vironment ;  how  much  less  ought  we  expect  it  when  we 
remember  the  circumstances  amid  which  most  Jews  have 
been  born,  and  their  history  during  the  past  eighteen  or 
nineteen  centuries.  I  have,  I  think  I  may  safely  say, 
never  yet  met  a  perfect  man  or  woman  in  Israel  or  out- 
side of  Israel.  The  only  perfect  persons  in  this  world  are 
men's  first  wives,  who  have  died.  They  appear  to  have 
been  perfect :  but  living  men  and  women  all  have  failings 
of  some  kind  or  another.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  admit, 
for  my  people  and  myself,  more  especially  for  myself, 
that  we  have  faults  and  many  of  them.  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  admit  that  we  make  mistakes,  that  we  are 
guilty  of  errors;  but  I  would  like  to  know  what  individ- 
ual, except  the  critic,  is  not  guilty  of  some  errors? 

Human,  Not  Jewish,  Errors. 

I  have  given  my  whole  life  to  the  study  of  the  Jewish 
question,  and  a  few  other  matters;  and  I  have,  as  yet, 
been  unable  to  place  my  finger  upon  a  specific  Jewish 
vice.  The  vices,  mistakes  and  errors  of  a  Jew,  are  the 
vices,  mistakes  and  errors  of  common  humanity.  We 
share  them  with  our  brethren  of  other  faiths.  We  are 
no  better  than  they  in  this  respect,  and  we  are  no  worse. 
Hut  again,  I  make  this  reservation.  If  our  brethren  of 
other  faiths  had  endured  for  eighteen  centuries,  and  had 
in  their  blood  and  nerves  and  veins  what  we  have,  I 
doubt  very  much  if  you  would  find  a  spark  of  virtue  left 


16 


in  them.    The  marvel  to  me  is  not  that  Jews  have  vices 
but  that  any  Jew  has  any  virtue  left  in  him. 

No  better  way  could  be  found  to  drive  good  out  of 
men  than  by  constantly  kicking,  cuffing  and  cursing 
them.  No  surer  method  of  killing  one's  idealism  could 
be  devised  than  by  constantly  showing  him  ill  will  and 
by  everlastingly  defaming  him.  If  we  wish  to  raise 
flowers,  we  must  provide  them  with  the  warmth  and  light 
of  the  sunshine,  or  something  like  it.  We  know  that 
we  can  never  get  the  flowers  of  character  in  those  to 
whom  the  light  of  justice  and  the  warmth  of  mercy  have 
been  denied.  Jews  respond  to  the  sunshine  as  do  all 
other  people,  for  they  are  intensely  human,  and  our  op- 
ponents must  surely  understand  this  some  day.  But  in 
the  meantime,  fearlessly  and  uncompromisingly  we  assert 
to  every  shrew  that  the  charges  brought  against  the  Jews 
as  a  whole  may,  almost  without  changing  a  single  word, 
be  brought  against  the  people  of  the  shrew  who  promul- 
gates the  charge  against  us. 

The  Sweet  Uses  of  Adversity. 

But  even  if  these  charges  be  untrue,  is  it  not  possible 
that  we  may,  nevertheless,  distill  some  good  out  of  them? 
that,  looking  at  them  fairly  and  squarely,  we  may  find 
in  them  elements  which  may  help  us  in  spite  of  the 
malevolent  design  of  our  enemies?  We  ought  to  under- 
stand, by  this  time,  and  I  would  that,  as  we  are  about 
to  enter  upon  the  New  Year,  all  of  us  might  see  that  anti- 
Semitism  is  not  a  curse.  Anti-Semitism  may  become  to 
us  a  real  blessing;  and  when  we  let  the  non-Jewish  world 


17 


know  that  when  it  pays  us  the  tribute  of  anti-Semitism, 
it  is  helping  us,  the  shrews  may  soon  be  tamed. 

Shakespeare,  in  "The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,"  shows 
us  how  Petruchio  tamed  Katherine.  Not  otherwise 
should  be  our  method.  We  should  bring  ourselves  to 
take  the  position  represented  by  Petruchio,  only  what 
was  assumed  in  him,  should  become  real  in  us  as  the 
result  of  training.  He  says, 

"Say  that  she  rail ;  why  then  I'll  tell  her  plain 
She  sings  as  sweetly  as  a  nightingale ; 
Say  that  she  frown ;  I'll  say  she  looks  as  clear 
As  morning  roses  newly  wash'd  with  dew; 
Say  she  be  mute  and  will  not  speak  a  word: 
Then  I'll  commend  her  volubility, 
And   say   she   uttereth  piercing  eloquence: 
If  she  do  bid  me  pack,  I'll  give  her  thanks, 
As  though  she  bid  me  stay  by  her  a  week: 
If  she  deny  to  wed,  I'll  crave  the  day 
When  I  shall  ask  the  bans,  and  when  be  married." 

The   Blessing  of  Anti-Semitism. 

Tell  the  world  that  you  appreciate  anti-Semitism; 
thank  it  for  anti-Semitism,  as  I  do  in  my  heart  of  hearts; 
what,  think  you,  the  world  would  do?  And  is  not  anti- 
Semitism  a  blessing?  Is  not  everything  which  compels 
us  to  put  forth  added  effort  a  blessing  to  us?  Is  not 
everything  which  lulls  us  to  sleep,  when  we  should  be 
awake,  and  which  deprives  us  of  strength,  our  foe?  If 
we  wrestle  with  adverse  conditions  and  struggle  against 


18 


them,  as  does  the  oyster  with  the  grain  of  sand  which  it 
converts  into  a  pearl,  will  they  not  become  to  us  a  source 
of  strength?  If  we  desire  to  use  our  muscles  do  we  not 
exercise  them  the  more  to  gain  agility  and  force?  Bless- 
ing comes  from  wrestling,  not  from  indolence,  laziness 
and  ease ;  that  which  makes  us  put  forth  effort  is  a  source 
of  our  well-being;  not  that  the  enemy  means  it  to  be,  but 
because  God,  by  His  divine  process  of  distillation  of  good 
from  evil,  turns  it  to  our  advantage.  You  who  are 
fathers  of  children  you  love,  and  mothers  of  children 
who  are  dear  to  you,  do  not,  for  the  love  of  God,  ruin 
them  by  pampering  and  spoiling  them !  Let  them  under- 
stand from  childhood  that  he  alone  is  worthy  of  being 
called  a  child  of  God  who  is  capable  of  putting  forth 
effort  when  effort  is  needed.  Thus  anti-Semitism,  far 
from  being  the  curse  the  weak-kneed  among  us  think  it, 
is  a  blessing,  if  we  have  the  spirit  of  the  true  Jew,  Mor- 
decai,  who  bends  not,  and  bows  not,  when  his  convictions 
prevent  him  doing  so. 

The  Weak  Jew  a  Curse. 

But  if,  on  the  contrary,  we  are  spineless  and  supine, 
if  we  have  not  the  courage  to  withstand  the  adverse  atti- 
tude of  the  enemy,  then  much  of  what  the  foe  says  may 
be  true  after  all.  A  strong  Jew  is  a  blessing  to  self  and 
humanity.  A  weak  Jew  is  a  drag  upon  his  own  com- 
munity as  well  as  a  curse  to  his  own  offspring  and  to 
society  in  general.  Zangwill  makes  one  of  his  charac- 
ters in  his  last  play,  "The  Next  Religion,"  point  out  that 
though  "Jews  do  not  worship  Christ,  they  do  worship 
Christians."  If  that  be  true,  then  has  Israel  fallen 
indeed. 

19 


Let  me  explain.  You  ought  to  know  by  this  time 
that  I  harbor  no  ill  will  to  any  person  because  of  his  re- 
ligious faith.  I  bear  no  animosity  to  any  man  or  woman 
because  of  their  religious  affiliations.  I  would  that  all 
men  were  true  to  the  best  in  the  religion  to  which  they 
are  attached.  The  world  would  be  all  the  better  place 
in  which  to  live  if  all  of  us  were  more  devoted  to  the 
ideals  of  religion.  But  I  am  attached  to  the  Jewish  re- 
ligion and  I  would  that  all  my  congregants  knew  what 
Judaism  demands  of  {hem  and  were  loyal  to  it. 

Kvery  person  who  is  a  member  of  a  church  has  a 
perfect  right  to  go  to  his  own  place  of  worship  and 
should  be  given  every  encouragement  to  help  to  main- 
tain it  in  a  dignified  manner.  We  demand  for  our 
people  the  same  right.  I  never  have  indulged  any  other 
feeling  toward  non-Jews,  and  I  have  never  been  guilty 
of  accusing  all  of  them  of  guile  and  crime  because,  as  I 
remember,  my  first  sad  experience  in  Pittsburgh  occurred 
when  I  was  robbed  of  my  hard-earned  money  by  a  mem- 
ber of  a  Presbyterian  church.  I  would  rather  my 
tongue  fall  from  my  mouth  than  I  would  condemn  all 
Christians  for  the  sake  of  individual  Christians.  But 
this  does  not  involve  me  in  playing  the  kow-tow  to  the 
majority,  or  in  weakly  effacing  my  individuality  to  gain 
their  good  will.  Nor  should  it  in  your  case,  men  and 
women. 

SEVEN— 4094 

Judge  Us  As  Individuals. 

My  position  is  this:  I  demand  for  every  individual 
Jew  the  right  to  be  judged  by  his  own  life,  by  his  own 

20 


character,  by  his  own  standing,  by  his  own  actions,  as 
we  are  willing  to  do  in  the  case  of  others.  While  I  say 
this  I  recognize  the  weakness  of  some  Jewish  people  who 
do  not  understand  that  tfye  world  approves  the  Jew  who 
is  a  Jew  infinitely  more  than  the  Jew  who  is  a  weak  imi- 
tation of  what  he  can  never  conscientiously  be. 

Sometimes  the  word  Jew  is  used  in  a  very  un- 
pleasant sense,  and  when  we  hear  it  so  employed  our 
anger  is  aroused.  When  I  read  recently  to  you  the 
definition  of  the  word,  "Jew,"  from  a  certain  dictionary, 
several  people  came  to  me  and  said  I  ought  to  write  to 
the  publishers  of  that  dictionary  and  say  to  them  that  it 
is  false  to  define  the  term  Jew  in  that  way.  But  I  lis- 
tened not ;  I  know  a  more  excellent  way  of  meeting  the 
situation. 

No  word,  a  few  years  ago,  meant  anything  worse 
than  Socialism.  When  I  was  at  college  there  were  few 
terms  which  conveyed  more  of  horror  to  a  young  man's 
mind  than  this.  It  was,  however,  falsely  associated  with 
bomb-throwTing,  assassination,  murder,  and  every  other 
form  of  evil.  We  are  today  removed  only  three  decades 
from  the  day  when  Karl  Marx,  the  father  of  modern 
Socialism,  died.  Only  thirty  years  have  passed,  but  al- 
ready the  Socialists  have  made  the  world  respect  the 
name.  Today  it  conveys  an  impression  of  social  effort 
of  an  uplifting  character,  and  suggests  to  all,  except  the 
wilfully  ignorant  who  understand  nothing,  a  self-devoted 
type  of  manhood,  an  apotheosis  of  the  public  weal. 


21 


Improve  Self! 

I  suggest  to  the  Jews,  including  myself,  that  if  we 
wish  to  tame  the  shrew,  we  can  best  do  it  by  being  bet- 
ter Jews.  But  we  cannot  be  better  Jews  unless  we  know 
something  of  Judaism.  I  make  bold  to  say  that  the 
average  Jew  knows  less  of  his  religion  than  the  average 
member  of  any  other  denomination ;  that  the  average 
Jew  spends  less  time  in  studying  his  religion  than  does 
the  average  member  of  any  other  denomination.  I  be- 
lieve that  my  people  know  less  of  our  Bible,  (I  am  speak- 
ing- of  reform  Jewish  congregations  in  America  )  than 
do  the  members  of  any  other  church.  Can  valuable 
enthusiasm  grow  out  of  ignorance? 

Exercise  Care. 

I  have  heard  some  cruel  things  said  about  some 
members  of  this  congregation.  I  have  heard  some  cruel 
things  said  of  members  of  all  Jewish  congregations,  and  I 
wonder  sometimes  whether  these  things  are  true.  If  you 
seriously  desire  to  tame  the  shrews,  then  you  will  see 
to  it  that  men  and  women  who  are  admitted  to  Jewish 
congregations  and  to  Jewish  social  life,  and  that  men 
and  women  who  are  chosen  by  Jews  to  represent  them 
as  board  members  of  charitable  organizations  or  as 
trustees  of  synagogues, — aye  of  any  Jewish  organization, 
— are  truly  representative  of  the  Jews.  If  these,  our 
representatives,  be  not  worthy  of  public  respect  and 
commendation,  then  I  say  unto  you  that  whatever  is 
said  of  us  adversely  and  by  whomsoever  it  is  said,  is  in- 
defensible. The  Jew  must  learn  from  his  enemy.  The 
enemy  does  not  mean  us  to  learn,  but  our  foes  teach  us, 


22 


nevertheless,  some  needed  truths,  and  become  a  source 
of  strength  to  us  unconsciously.  He  helps  us  when  he 
does  not  mean  to  help  us.  And,  therefore,  we  may  thank 
God  for  the  enemy,  the  anti-Semite,  if  we  pay  due  atten- 
tion to  his  criticism  and  profit  by  it. 

Taming  the  Shrew. 

If  we  wish  to  tame  the  shrew  who  attacks  the  Jew 
we  have  it  in  our  power.  We  need  only  refer  to  the 
record  of  our  people  during  ages  of  oppression  and 
tyranny  to  learn  what  our  conduct  must  be  now  that  we 
are  free.  Spiritual  monopolists  we  never  were ;  religious 
monopolists  we  never  aspired  to  be.  At  no  time  in  Is- 
rael's history,  since  Judaism  became  a  religion,  have  Jews 
sought  to  interfere  with  the  free  religious  development 
of  any  people.  Our  Bible  has  ever  been  an  open  book. 
We  have  urged,  wherever  we  have  gone,  that  education 
is  the  birthright  of  every  child.  Freely  have  we  given 
to  others  Sabbath,  Psalm  and  Savior.  Ours  was  the 
glory  of  revealing  to  a  benighted  world  the  universal 
God ;  and  the  world  says  that  our  sacred  literature  is  its 
most  invaluable  possession.  We  ask  nothing  in  return 
from  the  world ;  we  never  shall  so  long  as  we  are  true 
Jews.  If  we  are  accepted  on  equal  terms  with  others 
we  shall  do  our  duty.  If  we  are  expected  to  accept 
unequal  terms,  we  shall  thank  the  foe  and  show  the 
stuff  of  which  a  Jew  is  made. 

The  enemy  is  a  friend  when  he  demands  a  higher 
standard  of  us.  He  forces  us  to  reach  heights  we  should 
otherwise  be  unable  to  scale.  If  we  are  strong,  we  shall 
respond  to  the  demand.  If  we  are  weak,  the  sooner  we 


23 


disappear  the  better.  Do  not  you  demand  a  higher 
standard  of  morals  in  your  Rabbi  than  in  any  other  man 
in  the  congregation?  You  are  not  justified  in  making 
such  a  demand,  but  you  make  it,  nevertheless.  That 
which  might  not  be  noticed  in  others  is  regarded  as  a 
flagrant  perversion  of  right  in  your  minister.  That 
which  might  be  pardoned  in  others  would  be  unpar- 
donable, perhaps,  in  me. 

But  the  same  standard  as  you  demand  of  me,  I  have 
a  right  to  ask  of  you.  There  is  no  religious  obligation 
binding  on  a  Rabbi  that  is  not  equally  binding  on  his  con- 
gregants. Moreover,  you  are  just  as  much  teachers  of 
religion  as  I  am.  Your  function  is  that  of  ministers  at 
the  altar  of  mankind's  faith.  You  are  the  priests  of  the 
Most  High.  You,  sons  and  daughters  of  Israel,  are  the 
servants  of  God  for  humanity's  sake.  If  difference  be- 
tween us  there  is,  it  lies  in  the  fact  that  I  receive  pay  for 
my  ministrations,  while  you  do  not.  But  if  you  feel  that 
the  only  reason  that  I  occupy  this  pulpit  is  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  source  of  revenue  to  me,  then  the  sooner  you  select 
another  Rabbi  for  this  congregation  the  better  for  you 
and  your  children  and  your  cause. 

As  teachers  of  religion  to  humanity  you  must  mani- 
fest the  same  high  standard  of  virtue  you  demand  of 
your  teachers  in  the  pulpit.  Such  a  standard  all  of  us 
should  maintain,  ^'e  should  be  as  clean,  morally  and 
spiritually,  as  a  noble  congregation  of  men  and  women 
expects  their  respected  minister  to  be.  Live  thus,  and 
every  shrew  will  be  tamed.  Let  a  blameless  life  be  the 
answer  which  every  Jew  makes  to  every  shrew. 


24 


:ifj> 


.•E  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UB 


A     000  072  483     1 


